I appreciate the info on backflow, but if memory serves me (and
that's not the certainty it once was), at least one report of HF
cylinder failure involved a cylinder that had never been used.  That
report, from a lecture bottle manufacturer, stated that there was a
very slow reaction between the HF and the steel, and they therefore
proposed a maximum shelf life for storing their cylinders.  Memory
does not allow me to cite that time limit, but if pressed, I suppose
I could find the report.

                                        Don

>  Any liquefied gas is subject to suckback of  of liquid when its
>discharge piping is immersed in liquid.  This will happen as the
>pressure drops, unless prevented against backflow. Water was
>obviously sucked back into the cylinder which generates hydrofluoric
>acid, which will react with any metal to form hydrogen gas.
--
Donald Abramowitz
Environmental Health and Safety Officer
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-2899
(610) 526-5166
fax: (610) 526-5220

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